Suffering and Glory ! (Part I)

“ The suffering of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.

For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God;

For creation was made subject to futility , not of its own accord but because of the One who subjected it in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. ”

This reading shares with us a message both of hope and of faith. “ The sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us “! – What a beautiful thought.

We go through sufferings in this life. Our brothers and sisters are sick, homeless, hungry and a whole host of other crosses that we carry day to day. Maybe your cross is your job, a family situation, a child, a spouse, or just life in general.

There is a man who spends his days longing for his earthly life to end. He has a permanent disability so he walks with crutches. He longs for a new heavenly body and to see Jesus face to face.

While the end result is much what we might desire, the preface is wrong.

We can’t just go into a hospital and pul on a lab coat or scrubs with no training or education and say “ Hey, I am now a doctor, I need to do a surgery now !”. It takes hard work, it stakes study, patience and endurance. The same thing applies in this situation.

Our lives demand a lot from us. We are born like a diamond that is just pulled from the earth. Through a life of faith we clear away the dirt. We are washed in the waters of Baptism and through the crosses that we bare , through our experiences, through our faith our lives are cut, and polished , this is the hard work.

We need to study ! The way we come to understand our faith, the way we come to know Jesus better the way that we get a deeper understanding not only of the history of our faith but its application in our lives, is to study. Study the Bible ! Learn about the different people who live in those pages, the struggles they went though and how it is that the Lord spoke to them. What Jesus said to them. What did God teach them out their own situations ? Their lives ? What was the faith lesson that was part of the story ?

Insert yourself into the stories. Can you understand the perspective of each person within the passage ? Look at the surroundings and the circumstances. We should be able to relate to the disciples, and others in the narratives and parables.

The hard work involved in this world. is the clearing away of the garbage. It is the finding the diamond of our faith and the discovery of its beauty and the meaning it has for our lives.

The sufferings of this time, might be that, other in your life do not understand your faith, or are even disapproving of it. For most , the biggest cross they carry is that as you learn more, and study more about your faith, the of our own interior flaws become apparent. We can see our own imperfections and then begin anew the struggles and hard work of cutting away and polishing to remove those imperfections as they are revealed.

We struggle , we work hard, and we fail. After some failing we become aware of our weaknesses , our human failings . We are our own worst critics. We have to recognize our failings , and make the amends and corrections, as best we are able and begin again. There are two other points in this process, that are both the hardest and the most important, after seeking forgiveness from God and others, we need to forgive ourselves and seek the help of God in our struggle and work of fixing those flaws.

The other point is being able to recognize the same struggles in other people. Our brothers and sisters are going through their own struggles and crosses. We need to be able to understand and look beyond the surface and to forgive them for any perceived or actual injuries, and help if we can.